Timeline for What does the idiom “funny as hell” mean?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2019 at 12:32 | comment | added | Cœur | @RegDwigнt oh, now I see (with no eyes). | |
| May 18, 2019 at 12:11 | comment | added | RegDwigнt | @Cœur your parents never first met, because when they first met they were not your parents. Likewise, you will never meet your wife until after you marry her. Oh, and your great great grandmother never learned to speak, never had dinner, and never slept. Quite frankly, she never existed at all. And so on and so forth. If we start approaching language purely logically, half the things we say are either outright lies or don't even make any sense at all. | |
| May 18, 2019 at 7:21 | comment | added | Cœur | @RegDwigнt I don't get your "how did your parents first meet" comparison. | |
| Aug 29, 2018 at 12:57 | comment | added | Ruadhan2300 | @BruceWayne That was the point I was attempting to drive at with my comment, that the idiom came from a point where it made literal sense and got generalised out to just be an Intensifier. | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 18:59 | comment | added | anon | @DavidRicherby Interesting, the "cold as Hell" could be literal as well -- the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (written ~300 years before, and quite popular by the 1700s) describes the innermost, worst circle of hell as completely frozen over, with all but the literal absolute worst 3 sinners, by Dante's standards at least, encased in ice to varying degrees. It wouldn't be surprising to see that referenced literally in "cold as [the worst circle of] Hell." | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 18:16 | comment | added | David Richerby | @BruceWayne That certainly wouldn't be surprising. The OED doesn't have anything to say on the subject: it defines "as (all) hell" as meaning "very" or "extremely" and gives examples since the late 1700s. Those examples include "cold as hell" (!) but not "hot as hell". They don't give anything else for "as hell". | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 18:04 | comment | added | BruceWayne | @DavidRicherby - Any chance that the myriad "____ as hell" idioms originate from "hot as hell"? Since Hell would arguably be the hottest place imaginable, perhaps that was the start of the "...as hell" idioms, meaning that there are no hotter/funnier/etc places/events, etc? | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 17:18 | comment | added | David Richerby | I wouldn't include "hot as hell" in the same category. Hell is famous for being hot, so claiming that something is "as hot as hell" is just a straightforward (probably hyperbolic) use of the words. In contrast, hell isn't known for being funny, and the asker's thought that it might mean "having the same amount of funniness as hell does" is exactly the source of the question. | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 15:28 | comment | added | user91988 | @WeatherVane It's an idiom. That's how idioms work. | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 15:07 | comment | added | Joker_vD | @Flater It's just the same as with "terribly pretty" and "awfully nice", or even "roads closed thanks to flooding": yes, if taken literally it sounds stupid, so don't take it literally, what's the problem? | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 11:37 | comment | added | Ruadhan2300 | Hell is generally regarded as a place of Extremes, heat, pain, horror, stuff like that. So "Hot as hell" or "hurts like hell" are intended as a literal description, if a bit hyperbolic. The "As Hell" can then be generalised as an Intensifier to simply mean "Very Hot" or "very painful". Which leads to "Funny as Hell" by extension, with a modicum of absurdity from the weird comparison just to accent it. You can pretty much exchange "hell" for virtually any proper noun and people will understand by context, even if "Funny as Heaven" doesn't scan remotely as well. Just be careful with "Belgium" | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 8:01 | comment | added | Flater | @WeatherVane: You're pointing at a semantical contradiction that isn't part of the intended usage. It's not "[funny] as [a horrible place]", it's "[funny] [very much]". When "as hell" is used, it's not a comparison, but rather an intensifier (which etymologycally used to be used as a comparison). Similarly, "a Roman vandal" makes sense today (a Roman who defaces public property), whereas in classic times it was considered a contradiction (as the Vandals were a tribe, thus inherently not Roman). | |
| Aug 28, 2018 at 7:49 | comment | added | RegDwigнt | @WeatherVane: if it's raining really hard, how is "cats and dogs" a good description? If you're in a bus, how is "on a bus" a good description? If you are only one person, how is "you are" a good description? And how did your parents first meet? (Trick question, of course. They first met after you were born.) In short: who told you that everything in language must make perfect sense, and how do they manage to survive a single day without noticing that they are hilariously wrong? | |
| Aug 27, 2018 at 23:18 | comment | added | Jason Bassford | @WeatherVane There is a swear word that something can be as X as, and it makes even less sense lexicographically. But it's still used. Hell, here, is no different than that. | |
| Aug 27, 2018 at 21:17 | comment | added | Robusto | @WeatherVane: Sounds like your beef is with the language, not with my answer, which is accurate as hell. | |
| Aug 27, 2018 at 21:05 | comment | added | Weather Vane | If something makes you laugh, how is "hell" a good description? | |
| Aug 27, 2018 at 20:37 | history | answered | Robusto | CC BY-SA 4.0 |